Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security during a budget hearing at the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images/TNS)
WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — The House plans to deliver impeachment articles for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate Tuesday afternoon, after a delay sparked by Senate Republican efforts to ensure an impeachment trial.
Senate Democrats have said they plan to quickly dismiss or otherwise dispense with the two articles of the historic impeachment of a sitting Cabinet secretary for “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust” tied to the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., initially planned to deliver the articles April 10, but announced the delay after a request from Senate Republicans who have sought to muster enough support to force the Senate to hold a trial. A Johnson spokesman confirmed the articles would be sent Tuesday.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the leading advocates for a trial, told reporters Tuesday that waiting until the next week would allow senators to debate the impeachment while not dealing with “jet fume intoxication” on the day senators usually go home.
In a floor speech Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said he had not changed his plans to deal with the impeachment articles shortly after they are sent to the chamber.
“The Senate is ready to go, whenever the House is. We want to address the issue as expeditiously as possible,” Schumer said. “As I said yesterday, impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. That sets an awful precedent.”
Schumer’s office has said that the day after the articles arrive, senators will be sworn in as jurors and Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., would preside over the chamber.
Senators on both sides of the aisle have said they expect Democrats to offer a procedural motion to dismiss or table the charges, however Schumer has declined to answer when asked about specifics.
Most Senate Democrats have disparaged the articles, with Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., calling them “laughable on their face” during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Homeland Security Department budget request Wednesday.
Murphy said the administration has lacked the tools to deal with the current influx of migrants at the Mexican border due to decisions made in Congress not to fund immigration enforcement and not to overhaul the system.
Mayorkas, the most prominent figure in the broader struggle between the Biden administration and Republicans on immigration policy, is the first Cabinet secretary in more than a century to be impeached.
At the appropriations hearing, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Mayorkas had broken the trust of the American people through his handling of the border and immigration.
“Most Republicans don’t trust you and a vast majority of the American people don’t trust you, that’s why you have been impeached,” Kennedy said.
The House adopted two articles of impeachment in February by a 214-213 vote.
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